Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!
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BROKERS' ROUND TABLE matchmaker, matchmaker FINDING A HOME AND FINDING A MATE HAVE MORE IN COMMON THAN YOU MIGHT THINK, SAY REAL ESTATE BROKERS KIM JONES AND BRAD LIPPITZ. BY LISA SKOLNIK M atchmaking is an art. Just ask anyone with a few successful unions under his or her belt. But pairing client and place is just as tricky and requires you to be a broker, tactician, psychologist, and negotiator all at once—especially in luxury real estate, where the stakes are high. Michigan Avenue: Matchmaking? Seriously? Brad Lippitz: Absolutely. To be a really great real estate broker, you need to know your client and your inventory inside out. That means ask- ing a lot of questions, listening hard, taking notes if necessary, and really staying on top of the market and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of current market inventory. Kim Jones: And half the battle is asking the right questions. For instance, if you fall for a place that doesn't have amenities, you need to understand the trade-offs and know if you can live with them. paying $500 more a month but getting more space and every- thing they concierge wanted, service and a from full- blown spa to valet parking and 24-hour room service. MA: So you start with wants and needs? BL: That and lifestyle. You may want a house, but are you willing to garden, shovel, schlepp gro- Kim Jones and Brad Lippitz on the sky deck at The Legacy at Millennium Park (60 East Monroe Street). ceries, and supervise repairs? Or you may want a huge chef's kitchen and indoor pool, but are those really things you're going to use? And be thorough. There are so many obscure rules that come with condos and co-ops. Will you really be able to live with them? For example, elevators will frustrate someone private and impatient. KJ: Sometimes those surprises come out of left field. Take balconies. I think they can be a huge catch-22. People always think they want them, but it can get so windy on the higher floors that they're practically unusable. MA: What about the old adage "location, location, location?" 270 East Pearson Street I had clients who lived in a 3,000-square-foot condo at 270 East Pearson Street for five years, without a pool, full gym, room service, parking attendant, and more despite a $2,000 per month assessment. They finally moved to a 4,000-square- foot unit at Trump Tower last year, where they're 130 MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM BL: People always said that came first, but gentri- fication and more good schools—public and private—have made so many neighborhoods attractive. But if you want to walk everywhere, River West, the South Loop, or West Lakeview might not be for you. If you have to get kids to school, the commute is usually more hellish from west to east than north to south. Or maybe you want to be a few blocks away from school—I've had lots of people combine apartments and add on to houses so they could be walking distance to Abraham Lincoln Elementary School, The Ogden International School, Alexander Graham Bell Elementary, or The Nettelhorst School. KJ: Pick your location, and walk it. See how long it takes you to go to the grocery store or the a specific building, sit in the lobby in the morn- ing and after work and see who's coming and " You may want a house, but are you willing to schlepp groceries?"—BRAD LIPPITZ going. Will you fit in there? And don't forget to look at all the common elements of a place closely. Are they nice enough and well main- tained? And the same goes for the public spaces around a home. MA: Have you ever had someone think a place was right when you knew it was totally wrong for them, or vice versa? KJ: I've had so many people say that they don't want to live south of the Chicago River, and once they moved into The Legacy at Millennium Park or The Heritage, right off of Randolph Street, they love it. They can walk to the theater, shopping, and dozens of restaurants. I make them walk the neighborhood with me and look at the building's amenities and views, and then they're sold. BL: A couple with a huge house in Naperville were looking for an in-town and blew off an apartment at Chicago Place, which I knew they would love because of the gigantic terrace for outside enter- taining. They thought it wasn't nice enough and too dated. When they finally went to see it, only as a last resort, they fell for it and bought it the next day, gutted it, and now it's spectacular. Kim Jones, Baird nearest Starbucks. And if you're thinking about & Warner, 312-505-3366, kim.jones@bairdwarner.com; Brad Lippitz, Prudential Rubloff Properties, 773-404- 1144, brad@bradlippitz.com MA PHOTOGRAPHY BY PETER HOFFMAN (BROKERS)